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APPARATUS TO BE USED IN ELECTRIC RAIL 0R TRAMWAY SYST EMS. No. 297,306.Patented Aprig, 1884.

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MICHAEL HOLBOYD SMITH, OF HALIFAX, COUNTY OF YORK, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS TO BE USED IN ELECTRIC RAlL 0R TRAM WAY SYSTEMS.

i SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 297,306, dated April22, 1884.

Application filed December 11, 1883. (No modeLl Patented in EnglandOctober 24, 1853, No. 5,065.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, llILOHAEL HOLROYD SMITH, a subject of Her Majestythe Queen of Great Britain, residing at Halifax, in the county of York,England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatusto be Used in Electric Ball or Tram lVay Systems, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus to be employed for carrying andcollecting the electric current, and passing the same to thedrivingmotor of the engine or car, as also to the method of laying theconductor. In a previous application for Letters Patent I have describeda system of electric rail or tram ways in which the conducting-bandswere carried in an underground channel, the current being collectedtherefrom. by means of trolleys or bogies traveling therein and movingwith the car or engine. I

My present invention consists of modifications or improvements on thesystem there described, by the application of which the use of trolleysor bogies may be dispensed with, as the conductors are formed of more orless longitudinally-slotted tube-shaped sections, in which suitableshuttles and spring-collectors are caused to travel, the current beingpassed from such collectors to the driving-motor by means of suitableconnections;

v A further portion of my present invention consists in the method oflaying and supporting said tubular conductor and its superposed road-bedor covering, by means of which the shuttle and spring-collectors, asalso sections a of the tubular conductors, maybe readily removed forrepair or for other purposes.

To clearly set forth and explain my invention, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and inwhich like letters of reference refer to corresponding parts of theapparatus in different figures.

' Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the channel containing thetubular conductor, which, with a portion of the collector, is shownpartially in section. Fig. 2 represents an end view, showing how thetubular conductor may be held in position, and also showing theremovable top plate or road-bed. Fig. 3 represents a plan or top view ofthe removable top plate, a portion of which is broken away to show thesupportii'ig-upright. Figs. 4c, 5, and 6 represent in side elevationmodifications of the form of collector shown in Figs. 1 and 2, whileFig. 7 represents in plan, and Figs. 8 and 9 in sectional end elevationand side elevation, respectively, modifications of the arrangements forsupporting the tube and roadbed plate shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In all thearrangements it is intended. that when the shuttleis moved in eitherdirection the springconnections between-the shuttle-heads shall beslightly compressed, causing said springs to be bulged out, so as tocome in intimate contact With the tubular conductor and take up thecurrent therefrom, which is then passed to the shuttle-heads, and fromthem through suitable connections to the motor.

In Figs. 1 and 2 shuttle-heads a are repre-, sented as being connectednot'only by spiralspring conductors b, but also by a doubleheaded boltor connecting-rod, c, the heads of which bear against the interior facesof suitable shoulders formed in the shuttle-heads, as shown, the spacebehind such shoulders, and within which the bolt-heads play, beingsufficient to allow the spiral b to bebulged out before the forwardshuttle-head, a, will be pushed by said bolt, one or both ends of whichare provided with nuts for the purpose of regulating the compression. ofthe springs. As shown in said Figs. 1 and 2, the current passes frombolt 0, through arms (I, connedting pieces 0 f g to the motor. Thepieces fare preferably of spiral=spring form, in order that the shuttlemay be gradually started and stopped. I

The parts G are attached to and move with the engine or car, and passsufficiently far through the slot in the bed-plate H to keep said slotclear and open. The conductors g, as shown in Fig. 1, pass through or byparts G, but are insulated therefrom. In Fig. 4 a connecting-bolt, c, isrepresented as being attached through arms (1, which are attacheddirectly to or are integral with the shuttleheads a, the play of bolt 0being given in this arrangement by means of the sliding of said bolt inthe arms 01.

In Fig. 5 the spiral springs b are replaced by two or more curvedsprings, bulged by the tapering faces made on the rod or bolt 0, asshown. In Fi 6 the springs b are represented as being formed of a seriesof rings riveted or otherwise electrically connected to each other andto the shuttle-head u. The general construction of this form issubstantially the same as shown in Fig. 4-.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 8 the tubular conductor A is represented as beingcarried in a series of insulating-supports, 3, which in turn are securedin position bysupporting-pieces 0 (cast with and forming part of theplate H) and D, the latter being held and supported by means of a wedge,E, driven between it and the part F, which, like part 0, is attached toor forms part of the road-bed plate H. Said road-bed plate is held inposition by means of a T or other suitable slide-piece, h, attachedthereto, and adapted to slide in recesses or behind riveted lugs 2 uponthe walls, as shown in Figs. 2 and This arrangement enables sections ofthe road-bed plates to be raised, when the part I) may be readilyremoved and a section of the tubular conductor taken out. The roadbedsection removed should belong enough to enable the shuttle and itsconnected parts to be placed in the main tube, the removed section beingsubsequently replaced and secured. It will be understood that before anyroadbed section is removed or after it is replaced the correspondingparts of tubular conductor are connected or disconnected, as the casemay be, and this may be accomplished by means of suitable handliolesplaced at the requisite dis tance apart in the road-bed.

In Figs. 7, S, and 9 the top opening to the channel is represented asapproximately in the center of the road'bed plates; but, as in Figs. 1and 2, the removable section His held in position and supported by thepart h, which passes behind the lugs 'i, riveted to or forming part ofwall I, the support 0 and part F being represented as being riveted tothe opposite wall-plate, 1, the clip D being in this caseheld by thewedge E against the side instead ot' against the top portion of thewall, I. The

which are i operation of the parts being the same as de scribed withreference to Figs. 2 and 3, further reference is unnecessary.

Having described my invention and set out how the same may bepractically employed, what I claim, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is

1. In an electric rail or train way, the combination, with atubularconductor, of a shuttle composed of the expansible spring-collector band heads a, located and adapted to travel in said tubular conductors,to collect and transmit the current through suitable connections withsaid shuttle to the motor, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

2. In an electric tramway, substantially as shown and described, thecombination of the shuttle composed of the heads a and an ex pansiblespring between said heads, with a connecting-bolt to limit the movementof the heads toward and from each other. and thereby the expansion andcontraction of the springcolleetor, substantially as described.

3. In an electric tramway, the conductor A. and the shuttle locatedtherein, combined with the coiled spring f, connected with said shuttleand with the car, substantially in the manner and for the purposedescribed.

l. In electric rail or tram ways, the combination of the tubularconductor A and insulating-support B with supports 0, D, and F, wedge E,and cover H, all substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In an electric rail or tram way, the walls of the channel, a removablecover, 11, having attached thereto the wedge-holding projection F, thesupportingpieces C, and slide-piece 71, combined with the lugs i on thewall of the channel, to receive the piece h, and the movable piece D,held by the wedge, all substantially as described.

MICHAEL HOLROYD SMITH.

\Vitncsses:

HENRY PARKER, Jr., WM. BAILEY. Clerks i0 llIcssrs. Hob-cycle at Smith,lS'ol'icitors,

Halifax, Yer/r871 iv-c, England.

